Strange Trails is Lord Huron's second album and is described as an anthology of weird fiction.[1] The album was originally conceived of as a movie, or a series of movies.[2] The idea was later dropped, but the concept carried over into the album's music videos, each presented as a film based on pulp fiction.[3] It is billed on the cover as "14 Songs from the Unknown." The album's narrative centers around characters who frequent a dive bar called George’s Place in Silver Mine City, a fictional desert town in Southwestern USA. The songs are credited to various characters,[4] as the album is intended to be interpreted as Lord Huron covering the songs of the writers and performers within the narrative.[5] Strange Trails introduces several important recurring characters such as Frankie Lou, Buck Vernon, Cobb Avery and Johnnie Redmayne. While the album is set in a specific era between the mid-1950s and early 1960s, the story is told in a non-linear fashion, with intertwining narrative threads and multiple character arcs and perspectives. The music of the Strange Trails establishes a stylistic shift from the prior album and incorporates a stronger focus on the musical genres of the past, primarily from the 1950s and 60s, alongside more straightforward folk-rock compositions.
Songs[]
Lord Huron - Strange Trails (Album Teaser)
| Song | Performer | Narrative |
|---|---|---|
| Love Like Ghosts | Francine Lu | |
| Until the Night Turns | The Phantom Riders | Johnnie Redmayne |
| Dead Man's Hand | Buck Vernon | Buck Vernon and Johnnie Redmayne |
| Hurricane (Johnnie's Theme) | The Phantom Riders | Johnnie Redmayne |
| La Belle Fleur Sauvage | Remy Fusil | Leigh Green |
| Fool for Love | Buck Vernon | The Fool, Big Jim, Lily |
| The World Ender | The Phantom Riders | Cobb Avery |
| Meet Me in the Woods | Francine Lu and Claude Fox | |
| The Yawning Grave | Traditional | |
| Frozen Pines | H.W. Justine | Danielle |
| Cursed | Buck Vernon | |
| Way Out There | Traditional | |
| Louisa | Buck Vernon | Louisa |
| The Night We Met | Francine Lu | Music video shows Vernon and Louisa |
Strange Trails poem (Ulysses Beyond Gibraltar)[]
Part of the poem Ulysses Beyond Gibraltar by Kevin D. Kinsella was included in the liner notes on Strange Trails:
"Strange Trails unwind, and the wind pushes you out of shade. Monuments free of names, red giants long dead among the frozen pines, beacons and landmarks along the borders of nothing.
You wander into something. Of the dirt, of darkness, of hemlock and the space, your path is just time and will. Strange Trails unfurl. What hinterlands we claim to not know have come home. Your stories won't manifest the edges of the world.
What parallax then, what weird choice, what frontier will you make yours? Belief is the irrational now between rising and falling, between empty and not. You see beneath the yawning graves to the deep quasars spun quick, blinking too fast to divide, but quiet holds the wind's static roar.
Is this still the deafness upon waking, the world without dreams within? And is that not the World Ender, the death when minds disprove themselves?
Hold your map upside-down; the lay is no different. As the pupil-dark night collapses, you treat with the descending abyss as singular, as though you had more to trade than schools of smoke and a fire built by the hand of a dead man, as though you could cull a reply without madness. Strange Trails unleash just so.
Will you look out at the sky or up?"
The poem was read during some concerts by Jesse Merlin.
"Love Like Ghosts"[]
Further information: "Love Like Ghosts"
Cover art for "Love Like Ghosts" single
Credited to Frankie Lou, "Love Like Ghosts" is a wistful song incorporating ethereal sounds with 60s-era song structure. She compares love to being haunted, and sings to a lover, believing they don't want her, begging them to explain why they are leaving. Whether this is actually about Lou's experience or mysterious past is unclear, but it is clearly an emotionally-affecting song about unrequited love. The simile that "love is like ghosts" speaks to a feeling that you can believe in something, even think you have seen it, but you do not necessary know that it is real, and not everyone will believe in it.
"Until the Night Turns"[]
Further information: "Until the Night Turns"
Cover art for "Until the Night Turns" single
"Until the Night Turns" is a Phantom Riders song from Johnnie Redmayne's perspective.[6] He has a vision of the end of the world coming at sunrise, which he is extremely upbeat about because he has "a helluva view for the end of the world" and "a bottle of booze and a beautiful girl." He suggests "when the World Ender comes baby, don't close your eyes."
This song sets the tone for Redmayne's character as a young and reckless but happy-go-lucky World Ender member who loves destruction, partying, and women.
"Dead Man's Hand"[]
Further information: "Dead Man's Hand"
Cover art for "Dead Man's Hand" single with Buck Vernon's car
"Dead Man's Hand" is a Buck Vernon song about an encounter he had with Johnnie Redmayne.[7] Vernon is driving back out west, late at night, when he sees a body on the road. Vernon digs a grave in the desert, but Redmayne grabs his arm when he tries to bury him. Redmayne explains he knows he is dead but he doesn't want to lie in a grave, there are no thrills in the afterlife, and that he would rather wander the desert forever.
In clips during the Whispering Pines sessions, Buck Vernon encounters Johnnie’s body on the road and gets a shovel out of the car, fixing to bury him. When Vernon rolls the body over, Johnnie is still alive. In the Vide Noir film and Products of the Universe, Vernon's encounter with Redmayne is shown in greater detail, and his black brained state is revealed to the result of a forced overdose on the Vide Noir drug, which Redmayne claims Z'Oiseau's men use to murder people.
"Hurricane (Johnnie's Theme)"[]
Further information: "Hurricane (Johnnie's Theme)"
Cover art for "Hurricane (Johnnie's Theme)" single
"Hurricane (Johnnie's Theme)" is a Phantom Riders song about all the things Johnnie loves: "starin' at darkness," "playing with fire," driving fast, and getting into fights. He addresses a listener, telling them they look charming in dangerous or destructive scenarios, suggesting the subject of his attraction is as chaotic as he is, or at least he prefers them to be. He invites the listener "Come inside, can I get you to stay?"
He also questions the nature of death and reality itself: "What is life? Only visions. When I die, I'm coming right on back for you. Who am I? An illusion. Would I lie? I'm coming right on back for you." This may be foreshadowing to events that happen to Johnnie in the Vide Noir film or "Dead Man's Hand."
"La Belle Fleur Sauvage"[]
Further information: "La Belle Fleur Sauvage"
Cover art for "La Belle Fleur Sauvage" single
"La Belle Fleur Sauvage" is Remy Fusil's song about a girl he describes like a mythical wildflower - the song title translates from the French as "the beautiful wildflower." It is likely that Fusil wrote “La Belle Fleur Sauvage” about Leigh Green, considering her original stage name was Fleur, her album was Wildflower, and Tubbs Tarbell alludes to knowing the muse for the song.
The song describes how men who look upon La Belle Fleur Sauvage want her desperately and they will risk their lives to see her, so unearthly is her beauty, and how the singer wants to be the one to win her love for a lifetime so that they will share a grave. There are some interesting and specific details about La Belle Fleur Sauvage: "her colours change to match the passing of the days" and "ages come and go, but her life goes on the same, she lives to see the sun, and feel the wind, and drink the rain" which are likely poetic and hyperbolic, but make her seem like a legendary and immortal force of nature. Indeed, every meadow of wildflowers is if you think about it.
"Fool for Love"[]
Further information: "Fool for Love"
Lord Huron - Fool for Love
Cover art for "Fool For Love" single
"Fool for Love" is Buck Vernon's song about a lovestruck but foolhardy young man on a mission to win the heart of Lily, the woman he loves. In the music video, the Fool goes to a bar to fight a man called Big Jim. On seeing just how big and strong Jim is, the Fool initiates a fight between the Tumbleweeds and the World Enders. He tries to escape the brawl but attracts attention by knocking the power cable for the sound equipment out of its socket, which disrupts the Buck Vernon Band's set. The Fool is chased out of the bar, leading to a confrontation with Big Jim. At the end of the song, the Fool "lies in the drifting snow, bleeding out as it covers [him] over" and explains that he is not afraid to die, just mad he left Big Jim alive.
"The World Ender"[]
Lord Huron - The World Ender (Official Music Video)
Cover art for "The World Ender" single
Further information: "The World Ender"
"The World Ender" is a Phantom Riders song about Cobb Avery, a character associated with various supernatural legends. In the song, he explains that he had a name and the life he wanted, including a home, a sweet talkin' wife and a beautiful daughter. All of this was taken away from him because they burnt it to the ground, but he rose from the grave to have his revenge. He claims he has seen the other side of living and feels that heaven is a lie. In the lyrics, he says he never bleeds and won't ever age, suggesting he is now invulnerable and immortal. He will never feel the embrace of the grave and instead embraces nihilism, chaos and destruction.
These events are explained in more detail in the World Ender comic book and music video.
"Meet Me in the Woods"[]
Further information: "Meet Me in the Woods"
Cover art for "Meet Me in the Woods" single
"Meet Me in the Woods" is a song by Francine Lu and Claude Fox.
It describes an experience of going to a dark place that changes you forever. The singer's sense of time seems unreliable: "how long baby have I been away? Oh, it feels like ages, though you say it's only days." They claim they have "fucked with forces that our eyes can't see" and that the darkness has a hold on them, with the truth being stranger than their nightmares.
The song has various melodic and thematic similarities to Love Like Ghosts, "there ain't language for the things I've seen" being a direct lyrical reference.
"The Yawning Grave"[]
Further information: "The Yawning Grave"
Cover art for "The Yawning Grave" single
"The Yawning Grave" is listed as traditional and does not have an associated character. It is written like the narrator is a force of nature who will come for the listener who did not follow the rules, and in doing so, opened the yawning grave.
This force is at once benevolent and malevolent. It "tried to warn you when you were a child," "told you not to get lost in the wild," and "sent omens and all kinds of signs" but now says "Oh, you fool, there are rules, I am coming for you, you can run but you can't escape, darkness brings evil things, oh, the reckoning begins."
It is unclear exactly what rules were broken, but the themes of the album explore individuals coming back from the dead or being immortal, which goes outside the natural order of what humans experience.
"Frozen Pines"[]
Further information: "Frozen Pines"
Cover art for "Frozen Pines" single
"Frozen Pines" is credited to H.W. Justine. In an interview with NPR, Ben Schneider explained that the song is from the perspective of "a young girl named Danielle."[6] In the song, the narrator "wanders the pines" looking for someone and calling their name into the dark. She explains that on the night her friend disappeared, she couldn't see what happened clearly because there was "a strange light in the sky was shining right into my eyes." She expresses the desire to be with her missing friend and that she "will find a way through."
This song is associated with UFO imagery and with the Frozen Pines Motel.
"Cursed"[]
Further information: "Cursed"
Cover art for "Cursed" single
"Cursed" is a Buck Vernon song about love as a curse, which drives the singer to do dark and destructive things because of an unnamed woman who "bends the wills of men for fun." He perceives his infatuation with the woman to be a real spell she has placed on him, and blames his actions on it, saying that he is "just a pawn in her game" and that he has "done things that have no name" and she will make him do worse if he is not arrested first. He expresses the desire to walk out of the deal or break the spell, but he also wants to "learn her wits and how she plays her tricks" and exclaims "who knew love was gonna be like this?" suggesting that he recognizes the darkness of her "curse" but is nevertheless passionate about her.
"Way Out There"[]
Further information: "Way Out There (song)"
Cover art for "Way Out There" single
The song "Way Out There" is described as "Traditional" and does not have an associated character. It has a mythical quality, and focuses on themes of death. The narrator is "wearing old bones from those that came first" and is "drifting in a land that time forgot." They implore the listener to follow them "Way Out There" and to "follow the strange trails."
"If I found a way to stay with you tonight, it would only make me late, for a date I can't escape" suggests the narrator is too focused on "running through life and cruising toward death" to rest their head a while.
"Louisa"[]
Further information: "Louisa (song)"
Cover art for "Louisa" single
"Louisa" is Buck Vernon's song about a woman he calls Louisa. He opens the song by singing "Good for nothing is the name they'll remember me by" and suggesting nothing he has done is worthwhile and he had previously given up on living until he met Louisa. He is completely infatuated with her, crediting her with pulling him "outta the grave what a nice surprise." He pledges to write her name on his skin, "as a promise that we'll never be apart again," suggesting he wants a tattoo of her name, and he sings that he wants to spend his life with her.
"The Night We Met[]
Further information: "The Night We Met"
Lord Huron - The Night We Met (Official Lyric Video)
Cover art for "The Night We Met" single
"The Night We Met" is credited to Francine Lu, however the music video depicts the beginning of Buck Vernon's quest to locate his fiancée, who left to pursue stardom. In the video Vernon seems to be suffering from visions of a woman credited as Louisa. Vernon is shown driving his car while drinking, and dozing off at the wheel. He is shown remembering or hallucinating Louisa along the side of the road and in the backseat, and in this context, this song seems to be about his failing relationship with her.
Regardless of whose perspective is depicted, the song describes the heartbreak of losing someone you love as they drift away" "I had all and then most of you, some and now none of you." "Take me back to the night we met" expresses the feeling that the narrator wants a do-over, to simply never start the relationship they are now haunted by.[8] Being haunted by love is a theme in Frankie Lou's songs.
Sources[]
- ↑ Strange Trails blurb
- ↑ The Press-Enterprise interview
- ↑ T-Magazine interview
- ↑ Strange Trails CD and vinyl labels
- ↑ Lord Huron Fanclub Facebook Q&A Ben Schneider: "Originally, we had this idea to approach the songs on Strange Trails as though we were doing cover versions of songs by characters inhabiting the narrative world of the album. We created characters that were the writers and performers, each with their own style of music and backstory. We even planned to to have other artists record these “original” versions. I’d still like to do that someday. So, as with songwriting in the real world, it’s not necessarily whose point of view the story is from, but who wrote and performed the song in the world of the story."
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 NPR interview
- ↑ Lord Huron Fanclub Facebook Q&A 22. Q: "Is the dead guy from Dead Man’s Hand the World Ender?" Ben Schneider: "No, but he is a World Ender, that is, he is (was?) a member of the gang. He’s also the subject of the song 'Hurricane'."
- ↑ Gigwise interview, Ben Schneider: "On ‘The Night We Met’ I wanted to tell a story of love, but the feeling of regret at the end of a relationship where you’ve gone through so many wonderful things together but you feel like it wasn’t worth it. You wish you could go back to the origin of the relationship, and instead of commencing it, go another way."
|